For years, the poultry egg industry has managed their manure by allowing it to accumulate in the chicken houses over periods of two to three years. The manure falls to the floor beneath the bird cages. This practice resulted in manure with a high percentage of moisture, high ammonia gas releases to the atmosphere, high populations of flies, and extreme odors. The end product manure is very high in moisture. This adds cost to the transport of such manure to utilization sites. Additionally, the high moisture content tends to inhibit the ability to store the manure on the field, tends to increase energy costs, and also results in odor and fly nuisances. In the past, when the manure accumulated to a level where it had a negative effect on the health of the chickens, the manure was removed. The adverse health effects caused by manure accumulation results in reduced egg production and increase in the chicken mortality rates.
In the past, upon removal of the manure, the typical practice is to apply it to farmlands for the nutrient value of the manure. For many years, these application rates were based on the nitrogen content in the manure and the crop to be grown on the land. Later, it was realized that the manure application based on the nitrogen content caused extreme phosphorous pollution to both surface and ground waters. The application rate of the manure was never managed until the implementation of the CAFO rules. Nutrient management programs in many states for CAFO operations were changed from nitrogen loading to phosphorous loading. This change resulted in many lands close to the poultry operations not being able to receive any manure due to the high soil concentrations of phosphorous from the previous heavy loading rates. This has resulted in the egg laying farmers incurring additional expenses in transporting their manure to farther lands away from their operations that had not previously received high manure applications. Farmers had to purchase trucks for transporting the manure, along with higher fuel costs in order to transport the manure higher distances.
Short paper fibers are a byproduct and waste product of paper-making operations. Short paper fibers contain short paper fibers that are too short to go into the final paper product. Short paper fibers also includes paper fillers such as calcium carbonate, starches, titanium oxide, kaolin clay, along with spent biological microorganisms that are used to purify the water in the treatment process. The short paper fibers that are generated from the waste water treatment plant are used to purify the process water before being released to the environment or recirculated back to the paper-making process. The short paper fiber material is the solids that are generated from the water purification process. For years, short paper fiber material has been disposed of through landfilling. As costs for landfill disposal have increased, the paper industry looked for other beneficial uses for the short paper fiber material. Since short paper fiber material is innocuous of any heavy metals and other contaminants, the industry has developed many beneficial products from the short paper fiber material.
Flies are a major problem in hen houses and the surrounding environment. Accumulated untreated chicken droppings result in an environment that is very conducive to the generation of flies. Flies are an impediment to the health of the chickens and also a nuisance to surrounding neighbors and employees that work in the hen houses. In the past, farmers have employed numerous strategies for fly control. These strategies have included the spraying of insecticides, the injection of beneficial wasps which prey upon the larva of the flies, the installation of sticky fly strips, and other methods.
Chicken droppings are very high in nitrogen. As the chicken droppings accumulate under the bird cages, large quantities of ammonia gas are generated. This gas needs to be ventilated out of the chicken houses. In the past, this has been accomplished through the use of large fans that are built into the outside walls of the chicken houses. The fans force the air to the outside atmosphere where it mixes and disperses into the environment. Since the smell of the ammonia is a terrible nuisance and since ammonia can be toxic at certain levels, it is desirable to reduce the amount of ammonia that is released from such chicken houses.
In the past, various patents have issued relating to techniques for treating chicken waste and also for the use of such short paper fibers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,708,418, issued on May 17, 1995 to Sugarman et al., teaches an animal bedding for a poultry. This animal bedding is intended to absorb liquids and manure from such chickens. The bedding is manufactured from paper pulp. The paper pulp is dried so as to be completely dust-free and highly resistant to disintegration under the constant scratching of poultry. The bedding material is treated with disinfectants, germicides, fungicides or similar agents suitable for the purposes of preventing mold formation and inhibiting the growth of disease-producing organisms. The bedding material is unattractive to rodents and flies.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,311,115, issued on Jan. 19, 1982 to P. C. Litzinger, describes an aggregate composition that includes pulp mill solid waste material, and partially pyrolyzed cellulosic residue. The aggregate composition is designed for water absorbency and odor absorbency and is suitably adapted for use as an animal litter product. Paper mill solid waste material is suitably compressed so as to form a wet aggregate product and then dried.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,828,731, issued on Aug. 13, 1974 to P. L. White, teaches animal litter formed of high purity alphacellulose paper stock fibers in the form of pieces cut from a sheet of material and into which has been incorporated at least microbial inhibitor to inhibit the formation of odor-causing bacteria. The litter material also includes surface active agents to increase liquid absorbability of the cellulose stock material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,203,388, issued on May 20, 1980 to Cortigene et al., describes an animal litter that is prepared by de-watering rejects of a secondary fiber plant. Sodium bicarbonate is incorporated into the material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,263,873, issued on Apr. 28, 1981 to G. Christainson, provides an animal litter and method of preparation. This animal litter includes cellulose litter material that contains a pheromone-like attractant substance which makes the litter attractive to animals. The pellets on this litter material are formed from ground paper which has been moistened with sufficient water to hold the particles together. An acid salt can be added to the water as a dry powder to the ground paper.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,345 issued on Dec. 15, 1981 to M. Otoguro, provides a process for the manufacture of pulp-contained particles for the treatment of excrement. Hot water and a filler are added to paper pulp in a solidified condition and are agitated to form a slurry of the paper pulp. The slurry is then dehydrated so that lumps of pulp are produced that are cut into a plurality of smaller lumps.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,629, issued on Jul. 10, 1984 to M. L. Gerber, discloses a litter for mammals and fowl. The litter is composed of defibered cellulosic materials that are mixed with chemicals. The composition is chemically of a basic pH and is compressed into pellet form to provide improved handling qualities.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,359, issued on Sep. 17, 1985 to Hickey et al., discloses a degradeable litter for use in the brooding area of poultry houses. The litter covering comprises a sheet of paper which is gradually degradeable into litter within twenty-eight days. The paper is treated with ferrous sulphate hepta hydrate for ammonia control and is sufficiently water absorbent to facilitate moisture control in the poultry house. The litter covering serves as a physical barrier between the poultry and the litter and a barrier for masking ammonia produced from the used litter.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,807,465, issued on Sep. 15, 1998 to Kanapick et al., discloses a granular material containing recycled paper components. This waste paper is used to produce a highly absorbent, fiber-free granule, which can be used as an agricultural chemical carrier. The process maximizes the amount of long fiber sent to the paper machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,386,144, issued on May 14, 2002 to T. D. Cathey, shows a method of manufacturing absorbent material for conversion to fertilizer. The highly absorbent material is saturated with nutrient-rich animal excrement. This is an organic fertilizer from a highly absorbent animal bedding material that is manufactured from recycled waste paper, cotton fiber and cotton gin waste, and gypsum. The recycled waste materials are combined to form a slurry mixture for processing by conventional paper-making machinery into sheet material.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method that improves fly control within chicken house environment.
It another object to the present invention to provide a method which improves moisture absorption from the manure produced by chickens in the chicken house.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method which makes practical use of short paper fibers from the paper mill.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method which will reduce pesticide usage within the chicken house environment.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method treating the waste from a chicken house which decreases the production of ammonia gas from the chicken house.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for treating the waste from the chicken house which reduces the cost of fuel to the operator of the chicken house and for the person securing the treated waste for application to land.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method which improves the spreadability of the treated chicken manure.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method which enhances the distribution of particles during the spreading of the manure on the land.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for treating chicken house waste which, when applied to land, enhances crop yield.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for treating chicken house waste which makes the manure produced therefrom more usable in a larger number of markets.
It is another object of the present invention to provide for treating chicken house waste which enhances revenues to the farmer.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide chicken house waste which decreases phosphorous levels in the treated chicken manure.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the attached specification and appended claims.